Saturday, 7 December 2013

The left-back won a host of trophies as a
Rossoneri player over 25 years, but he is unlikely to rekindle his love
affair at San Siro with the current CEO now staying on at the club

SPECIAL REPORTBy Kris Voakes | International Football Correspondent
May 24, 2009 was a searing hot day in Milan. The mercury had risen to
around 36 degrees celcius by kick-off time on the day Paolo Maldini
played at San Siro for the last time, with vendors outside doing a
roaring trade in iced water. It seemed the picture-perfect scenario for
the final farewell to a footballing legend.
But 25 years of service at AC Milan apparently counted for nothing. Five Champions League wins meant squat. Seven Scudetti
were now forgotten. Nine other trophies had also been cast aside in the
minds of fans as banners were held aloft after the game to greet their
captain on his solo lap of honour not with compliments, but instead with
castigation.
"Grazie capitano. On the pitch you were an undying champion but you
had no respect for those who made you rich," said one. "For your 25
years of glorious service you have the thanks of those you called
mercenaries and misers," read another.
His retirement press conference was postponed by a week, and it was
Fiorentina’s supporters rather than Milan’s who gave the number three a
fond farewell.
The fans’ ire had been raised largely by Maldini’s refusal to pander
to the influential Curva Sud. Their decision to vent their anger at the
Milan squad upon their return to Malpensa airport following the 2005
Champions League final defeat to Liverpool in Istanbul was met with the
captain’s disgust. It was then that he allegedly muttered the
incriminating “mercenaries and misers” comment that would be used
against him upon his retirement, while there had been other occasions
when his words about the hardcore fans had been considered less than
complimentary.

The imperfect goodbye | Maldini's farewell was marred by the Curva Sud's insults

“The Ultras claimed on TV at the time that it was not a direct protest
against Maldini, but obviously it was,” one Curva Sud member told Goal.
“They demand respect from the players for their dedication and support,
and they believed that Paolo had not given them that. It is difficult
to say they were right, but they weren’t entirely without justification.
They love to have their favourites, but Maldini is just not one of them
as a result of what he said about them.”
That sunny May afternoon remains the last time Maldini attended San
Siro in an official capacity, but it is not only his sketchy
relationship with the fans which has provided a stumbling block to a
return.
When Adriano Galliani announced his intention to resign from the
position of CEO and vice-president last week, it was extremely
predictable that the next news to come out of Milanello would involve
Maldini. True to form, Sky Italia was soon reporting that
Barbara Berlusconi’s first act from her pending position of increased
responsibility would be to bring in the club legend as a technical
director.
The subsequent decision by father Silvio to play peace-maker and
ensure Galliani’s continued presence at the club, though, has resulted
in Maldini remaining on the outside looking in for the time being.
When the famed full-back had first announced his intention to retire
from playing, it was considered a natural next step for him to be
offered a new role at the club in a bid to extend his affinity with the
shirt he had first worn as a junior at the age of 10. Instead Milan have
kept their distance, thanks to a stand-off which has developed between
Maldini and Galliani.

'MALDINI EXILE SET TO CONTINUE'

"Since his retirement, Maldini hasn’t found the space at Milan that
many of his former team-mates did, but we should specify that the club
has a very clear and basic structure. Galliani and Ariedo Braida have
been the only people with executive duties, while icons like Daniele
Massaro, Franco Baresi, Filippo Galli and Pippo Inzaghi were always left
outside of the decision-making process. Massaro works at the marketing
department, Baresi is an ambassador, Galli is head of the youth sector
and Inzaghi is coach of the primavera team.
Following his recent meeting with Silvio Berlusconi, Galliani will
keep his duties as CEO for sport, while Braida will leave the club next
summer, at which time Milan will nominate a new sporting director. But
in the current situation, 'diplomatically' imposed by Berlusconi, there
is still no room for Maldini.
He is the first 'victim' of the agreement between Berlusconi and
Galliani, because once more he will pay for his lack of diplomacy on the
grandest scale. His difficult relationship with the die-hard tifosi
is notorious, and at his farewell press conference he was very critical
about Galliani, saying: “I’ve never seen a football club that is ruled
by just one person”. This was interpreted as a personal attack on
Galliani, and had a huge say in his ongoing exile from Milan."Alberto Costa | Corriere della Sera

Leonardo wanted Maldini back to act as a director of sport, passing
on his experience at training sessions, but Galliani told the pair that
no such role was necessary in modern football. Massimiliano Allegri
later suggested Maldini could join his staff to act as an advisor and a
conduit between the coach and players, but the former full-back was
again made to feel unwelcome.
“I can destroy this myth that I am 'one of the family' at Milan,” blasted Maldini to La Repubblica
in 2012 when asked about Galliani’s approach. “They don’t particularly
want me there. I feel bitter, not just for me but also for everything we
created together that has fallen apart. It’s the same sensation many of
my ex-teammates have.”Corriere della Sera’s Alberto Costa tells Goal’s Gaia Brunelli that it is the former skipper’s outspokenness that sparked the stand-off in the first place.
“He is paying for his lack of diplomacy on the grandest scale,” says Costa. “His difficult relationship with the die-hard tifosi
is notorious, and at his farewell press conference he was very critical
about Galliani, saying: 'I’ve never seen a football club who is ruled
by just one person'.
“This was interpreted as a personal attack on Galliani, and had a huge say in his ongoing exile from Milan.”
While Maldini has spoken in glowing terms about his experiences as a
Milan player, his refusal to cite Galliani as a key factor has been
telling, as was his claim last year that nobody currently in power can
take any credit for the club’s successes of the past.
“I was fortunate to be with Milan for 25 years. Silvio Berlusconi
arrived and taught us to think big,” said Maldini. “Arrigo Sacchi gave
us the mentality that we’d become the symbol for a style of football. It
was magical.
“But slowly the magic was lost and Milan transformed into an
absolutely normal club. There is nobody in the current Milan set-up who
wrote history, other than those in marginal roles. At Bayern Munich and
Real Madrid, the magic is still being continued by Beckenbauer, Hoeness,
Rummenigge, Butragueno, Gallego and Valdano. Milan had the magic for 25
years, but then lost it.”
Only a change of leadership at the club is likely to bring about a
return for Maldini, but Galliani’s stay of execution means that Barbara
Berlusconi will not have the autonomy she’d hoped for when considering a
role for Maldini.
But if Barbara does want the 45-year-old back at the club, it can’t
be in a token position, as Maldini himself has previously warned.
“I have never considered being a coach, and I don’t want to be a
director because I don’t like politics. If I were to remain in football,
it would be in bringing my knowledge to the table. I am not interested
in a role just for the prestige of it.”
For now there is no role at all for him. He has been linked in the
past with Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain. There was talk, too, that he
could assist Cesare Prandelli with the Italian national side. Instead it
is Milan that remains his only focus, but the call has still not
arrived.
Football continues to wait for one of its greats to return to the game. ------------ goal.com